What do I have here?

[illzoni]

Hi all,

New guy here wondering what some of this stuff means. Below are some excerpts from the PO's sale notice...

"The truck has 63” chevys in the rear and roger brown ball joint spacers up front, a wide rear axle off a 94 with a Detroit locker, also comes with a very stout budbuilt ifs skid plate."

Okay, I think I understand "63” chevys" as a reference to oversize rear springs. Is this a popular mod?

The "roger brown ball joint spacers" lifted the front a bit, right?
Guess it didn't do enough to level it out, as my BIL referred to it as the stinkbug look. The front fender is 36" off the ground, while the rear is at 38-1/4" high.

What is "wide rear axle off a 94"?

"Detroit locker" is a full-time locking rear differential, right?
Would a part-time locker be more street-able? Would it drive better? Seems that Detroit makes it chirp the rears on any snug turn on pavement.

He also wrote...
"The engine is stroked to a 2.71 has headers and a cam all from LCE."
What exactly does that mean?

TIA,
Jon
1987 Toyota 4Runner

 

[cometobanks]

It means theres been alot of wrenches on this truck... Hopefully professional.

A stroker engine is a motor with longer then stock connecting rods. It means more power if done properly.

 

[KidVermicious]

Detroit is an automatic locker - it only kicks in when you're on the gas pedal, and opens the diff when you're not. You have no control over this. Makes a left or right turn from stop a little weird, but lots of folks run them. Good reliable option for a rig that needs to be streetable but sees more time offroad than on.

The Chevy rear springs are a popular way to correct the infamous 4runner butt sag, add a little lift, and increase load cap at the same time. I don't know who Roger Brown is, but you can google "ball joint spacer" easily enough - it's a way to add mild lift to the front end.

Dunno what rear axle he's referring to. Ask him.

LC Engineering makes aftermarket performance parts for Toyotas. Good rep. I just put in that very same cam.

 

[fourwd1]

"The truck has 63” chevys in the rear and roger brown ball joint spacers up front, a wide rear axle off a 94 with a Detroit locker, also comes with a very stout budbuilt ifs skid plate."

The springs are from a full size Chevy p/u. That set-up is used primarily for rock crawling because the longer springs have a ton of flex, and they're pretty cheap at a salvage yard. The conversion results in about 3" or so of lift. It's not a typical solution for butt sag.

Roger Brown, aka 4Crawler, is well known in the Toyota offroad world. He also sells some speciality items for Toyotas.

BJ spacers are one way to get some lift on IFS.

The 94 axle is wider, so more stability and less rubbing with large tires.

BudBuilt sells the best and beefiest skidplates and other stuff for Toyotas.

Both Bud and 4Crawler are great guys to deal with.

 

[austintaco]

ditto....

It sounds like a nice rig, but it is relative to who did the work and how it was used. Ask the owner what his plans were for the truck and how he used it and compare them to yours.

I have a detroit on mine and I rarely, if ever notice. I can't remember the last time I felt it kick in on the street, but it locks all the time on the trail.

did you post pics and price? If you were going to lift the truck anyway, you can save cash by buying one that has already been done.....assuming it was done correctly.

 

[illzoni]

did you post pics and price? If you were going to lift the truck anyway, you can save cash by buying one that has already been done.....assuming it was done correctly.

Paid $2200.

More photos linked under my sig.

Jon
1987 Toyota 4Runner

 

[illzoni]

The rear end is more than 2" higher than the front. The rear shackles (is that the right term?) are 6" (bolt center to center). Could I replace the shackles with shorter, 4" ones and thus lower the rear about an inch? Would that have an adverse effect on anything?

Thx,
Jon

 

[fourwd1]

Yes
No

 

[austintaco]

That sounds like a fair deal you got. I like that color combo.
You can drop the rear by getting a different shackle or messing with the leafpack, but that's a whole other story.

The fact that both rear corners are dent free is a good sign. It may not have been wheeled too hard.

 

[illzoni]

The rear is currently 2-1/4" higher than the front with the current 6" shackles. Unfortunately, I've been unable to source replacement shackles in Tucson. So....

I think I'll drill new holes in the existing shackles myself. It'll be more work, but I should be able to remove and drill the shackles. I intend to put new holes at 3", believing that will lower the rear about 1-1/2", closing the difference between rear and front to about 3/4"....just about right.

Opinions?
Advice?

Thx,
Jon

PS - Put new, inexpensive RADAR RLT-8 tires on today, size 31x10.5x15. Those will probably remain my day-to-day tires, as they have a decent tread pattern, but not very agressive.

I intend to sell or trade the 16x8 black spoke wheels left over from my Dodge Ram and get 16x8s to fit the 4Runner. Will probably put something like an MT on the larger wheels for offroading and hunting duties.

Watcha think?